Will the Broncos' season be upended with the injury to Ryan Clady? (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

The offensive line. Six months from now, it’s possible we’ll look back and say the Broncos’ season was doomed on a basketball court.

The serious left knee injury suffered by All Pro left tackle Ryan Clady in late-April is the primary question mark among several that accompany the offensive line heading into training camp. Besides Clady’s injury _ which is supposed to be healed in time for the Broncos’ regular-season opener Sept. 12 at Jacksonville but no earlier — the Broncos are also counting on right tackle Ryan Harris to heal from big toe surgery and veteran center Russ Hochstein to recover from major knee surgery.

Replacing Clady is Tyler Polumbus, the former Cherry Creek High School and University of Colorado standout who started eight games in place of Harris at right tackle last season. In Hochstein’s absense, the Broncos have been playing rookie J.D. Walton, a third-round draft pick out of Baylor, with the first-team offense. At left guard, the Broncos will start either rookie Zane Beadles, a second-round pick from Utah, or second-year player Seth Olsen, who essentially was redshirted as a rookie last season.

The only offensive line position without reason for worry is right guard, where Chris Kuper’s consistency was recently rewarded with a five-year contract extension.

The good news about the Broncos’ offensive front is it will be the beefiest in team history. All starters and projected backups will weigh at least 300 pounds. The quality of the collective beef, though, is worth monitoring.

On balance, the new six-year deal for right guard Chris Kuper should help pass-rusher Elvis Dumervil.

Granted, right guard money doesn’t approach the market value of a pass rusher. If Kuper got, say, $30 million, Dumervil’s deal could wind up being at least twice that.

Still, it shows the Broncos are willing to reward their own. Like Dumervil, Kuper was drafted by the previous Mike Shanahan regime. Like Dumervil, Kuper was hoping to become an unrestricted free agent as a fourth-year player, but instead was trapped into restricted free agency status.

The Kuper contract was a strong message sent by Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. To wit: He doesn’t just like his “own” players. He likes good football players, period.

The moral of Kuper’s contract story: Stay healthy and keep quiet. He is the Broncos’ only full-time, starting offensive lineman from last season who is both returning, and not injured. Ben Hamilton and Casey Wiegmann are gone. Ryan Clady, Ryan Harris and Russ Hochstein are recovering from surgerically repaired, lower-extremity injuries. Tyler Polumbus is back subbing for Clady at left tackle after starting eight games at right tackle last season.

Up front, the Broncos’ offseason blocking unit has come down to Kuper and the Kids. And now the kids know that Kuper is worth following.

OT Ryan Harris leaves the field last season after injuring his toe. He missed the rest of the season. (AP)

It’s been the big right toe injury from Jahannam (term used by Muslims for Hades).

Broncos right tackle Ryan Harris, essentially out the past seven months because of his big toe problem, is expected to return to practice this week, if only on a limited basis.

The Broncos return for another round of offseason training activities (OTAs) Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The Broncos were 6-0 last season when Harris suffered his big right toe injury early in game 7 against the Baltimore Ravens last Nov. 1. He returned five weeks later to play at Kansas City, only to re-injure the toe in the second offensive series. That time, X-rays revealed a fracture, which ultimately required surgery. The Broncos finished 8-8.

Now that Harris is returning for the final two weeks of offseason practices, the Broncos are hoping to get center/guard Russ Hochstein (left knee) back for the start of training camp in late July and left tackle Ryan Clady (left knee) practicing again some time before the start of the regular season (Sept. 12 at Jacksonville).

McDaniels drafted offensive lineman Eric Olsen in the sixth round of the NFL Draft Saturday, his second draft pick from Notre Dame in as many years after taking safety David Bruton in 2009. McDaniels also acquired former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn in a trade with Cleveland earlier this year.

Starting right guard Ryan Harris, a holdover from the Mike Shanahan era, is also from Notre Dame. All four of Denver’s current Notre Dame alums were teammates in South Bend, Indiana in 2006.

Olsen was a freshman on that 2006 team, when Quinn and Harris were seniors.

“I looked up to them,” Olsen said. “I’m excited to be able to work with them again.”

Olsen said he hadn’t yet heard from his former, and now current, teammates yet since being drafted.

“I have thirty-something text messages on my phone, so maybe one is from them,” Olsen said.

ORLANDO — Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan made his return to the NFL’s annual meetings this year, now as the head coach of the Washington Redskins.

He met with reporters for about an hour this morning, talking about various players on his new team, of course. But he also couldn’t help discussing guys from his old team, including a number of current Broncos.

It was clear from that discussion — started by a question about zone blocking — that Shanahan felt very strongly about the group of offensive linemen he left behind in Denver when he was fired after the 2008 season. The starters that year were tackles Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris, guards Chris Kuper and Ben Hamilton and center Casey Wiegmann.

Shanahan said that the best proof he has that zone blocking works is that the Broncos averaged 4.8 rushing yards per carry in 2008, despite an unheard of spate of injuries to the team’s running backs (six ended up on injured reserve).

Among the biggest questions Shanahan faces as he starts his first year in Washington is who will play left tackle, an unfamiliar issue for Shanahan after having the solid Matt Lepsis for years, followed by Ryan Clady in 2008.

“What a get,” Shanahan said of Clady, whom he drafted at No. 12 overall in 2008. “You don’t get much better than Clady. That was like getting the top pick in the draft.”

That line returned in tact for 2009 under new coach Josh McDaniels, but because of injuries and demotions, was reshuffled at times last season. In 2010, Wiegmann and Hamilton are no longer Broncos as McDaniels tries to transform the unit from a zone scheme (which uses smaller linemen) to a more power blocking scheme (which favors larger players).

By all accounts, McDaniels very much likes Clady, Harris (who is recovering from a season-ending toe injury) and Kuper (who on Tuesday signed his one-year tender, ending his restricted free agency). Shanahan is now hoping to find similar players to rebuild the line in Washington, in part through the draft. Shanahan drafted Kuper (who Shanahan said would have been in high demand had he been an unrestricted free agent) in the fifth round in 2006 and Harris (who Shahanan called a future Pro Bowl player) in the third round in 2007.

“You’ve got to find those guys in the draft,” Shanahan said. “Those guys are out there, you’ve just got to make sure you find the right ones.”

Ryan Harris plays during a 2008 game at Invesco Field at Mile High. (Steve Nehf, The Denver Post)

The Denver Broncos concluded their first-day selections tonight by choosing Notre Dame offensive tackle Ryan Harris with the 70th overall selection in the third round of the NFL draft.

Impact analysis from The Sports Forecaster: “The recent loss of starter George Foster to Detroit made the drafting of a quality, game-ready lineman a priority for the Broncos. He is the type of gutsy, experienced, underrated player the Broncos seem to covet. While he may not quite be ready to start for Denver, Harris has the potential to become a leader on their line. The Broncos have a good overall approach with their line that stresses mobility and teamwork, and Harris is exceptional in both those areas.”

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.